for now, from the university of denver i'm jim lehrer. thank you and good night. [ cheers and applause ] >> cenk: there you have it the first presidential debate of 2012. i have a feeling we have mixed feelings about how that debate went. of course you have to keep in mind we'll be discussing tactics here. we know all of the policies and facts that go behind us. some of the viewers might be experiencing those policies in substance for the first time and they might have a different take. now on to the tactics and how it appears, vice president gore? >> al gore: i said before the debate that i thought that romney was going to be a better performer tonight, because he knows how far behind he is and he had to bring his a game, and i think he did. i don't think it was the best debate performance for president obama. i agree with you we'll have to see how the specifics on the substantive issues settle in as people reflect on them. but the first visceral reaction i had was that romney did himself some good in this debate. i'm strongly supporting